Ishikaki Shrine

     

Ishigaki, Ishikaki, It’s all the same. Both of these words are written as 石垣. This word is of course interesting to me because it is associated with (almost) every Japanese castle. It refers to stone foundations. So anyway, the other day I was driving down the road just minding my own business and I saw this shrine. I saw a couple of features that made me stop to have a closer look. I’m glad I did.

Please check out the vid below. It does tie in to a couple of older posts too, Piles of tiles, Directions and the Chinese Zodiac & Shachi is life.

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  • http://japandave.com David LaSpina

    Another great video, Daniel! I wonder if the zodiac thingy was for time instead of years specifically at this location. Neat to see a Shachi upclose like that. Beautiful shrine. I love shrines and enjoy visiting even the smallest ones. I think I actually enjoy these smaller ones in the middle of nowhere more than I do the big ones in Kyoto, Nara, or whatnot. They are more personal somehow, and less busy so you can relax more while enjoying exploring them.

    Anyways, good stuff. Keep them coming!

  • admin

    Thanks man. Yeah, no crowd to get in the way here. Very relaxing.

    And I agree with you about those out-of-the-way temples/shrines. I went to Hagi a few years ago & there were some large-ish, run-down & very peaceful temples. Such a contrast to Japan’s more notable temples. I saw some more recent pictures of them & they appear to have been cleaned up/restored. Unfortunately, this has made them less interesting.

  • http://chaari.wordpress.com Travis

    Another great post, Daniel! Thanks for sharing this with us.

    Lots of really interesting bits – the complex bracketing on the external walkway, which, as you say, would more typically be seen on roofs; the brightly colored zodiac wheel; and the shachi…

    If you do sometime happen upon the reasons this is called Ishikaki, you’ll have to let us know :)

  • http://toshogu.blogspot.com Tornadoes28

    That is a beautiful shrine. Lucky you found it and thanks taking a video of it. My favorite aspect of the shrine is the natural worn wood structure. Beautiful.

  • admin

    Thank you so much for your comments guys. Travis, I will indeed look into how it got its name. (Could be a slow process though.) Tornadoes28, glad you liked it. I agree with you, that wear & tear really does tell a story.

  • Nao

    Great video!! I’m so happy to see some foreigners are interested in small castle sites like this. :)))))

  • admin

    Hi Nao, Thank you for watching the video. And, I’m glad you enjoyed it. As for the shrine, I’m also happy to see that others have enjoyed my babbling descriptions of it.

  • http://www.poolofzen.com コルーズ・真秀

    Well, since no one else will say it… I guess I have to…. Sweet Collar!!! You look smashing, like the anti sarariman!

    I think its interesting about the carving on the roof peak too. Its hard to tell, but was the roof peak stone? I saw a lot of very similar peaks in China. Especially stone ones. I wonder if there is a Chinese connection within the sect. (just a theory with no empirical data).

    Definitely some interesting things going on there architecturally. Very nice place. Its amazing to me that those little temples and shrines ofter have no one around, including staff. Souveneirs anyone?

    nice post,

    M

  • admin

    I actually have a dislike for that shirt. It’s an in-case-of-emergency-smash-glass type of shirt. All the others I bought at the same time are looking decrepit. 以上です。

    The detailed face of the ridge tiles appear to be ceramic. Chinese influence is possible. I think I saw something similar in Nagasaki. (It’s okay, we won’t submit our thesis to any universities just yet.)

    I did think to back the car up & load the boot (trunk). It’s always a little tempting.